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if the sixers bring back butler and harris (and boban and scott and ennis and redick and mcconnell, i guess), i hope brett brown has some new ideas for putting these pieces together. unfortunately, i am not overly optimistic.

as for simmons' help defense, from the same video, this play is a good example of why you can just write him off as bad.

and i think this play cuts through the "low motor" criticism. he's just lazily strolling around the paint, facing away from the ballhandler, but then he does the max-vert drill from the combine to block a rolling big at the rim. sometimes it doesn't out quite that well, but for the most part, i think the combination of his positioning, his length and his awareness makes it hard to discern efficiency from laziness.

to be clear, some of those rebounding clips are pure laziness, but the clips where he got beat by dario saric and thad young were just good plays made by good opponents.

Lowe apparently decided to make sure his pod listeners know that the Celtics are not afraid:

“Everything I’ve heard, and this is really interesting, is that Boston is not afraid. Boston is not afraid of Rich Paul coming out again in Sports Illustrated and saying ‘they can trade for him, it’s just going to be for a year.’ They’re not afraid. And I don’t see a way that Boston can get him without trading (Jayson) Tatum. Now, whether you have to include Tatum and the Memphis, which is their only golden chip left -- and by the way, the last golden chip they had was the Kings pick, and it didn’t turn out to be all that golden because the Kings got pretty good. So you never know.”

The messaging from NOP sounds like they don't want the additional pick. If they're drafting Zion as the franchise centerpiece, then wouldn't getting another rookie be the perfect complement in terms of timing? Unless they think Zion has no aging curve and will enter the league in his prime (I do not believe that), I don't see the rush to get more established guys. I guess it's possible that Griffin hates everyone outside the top 3 in the draft but that usually turns out to be pretty bad thinking.

It's probably worth pointing out that Griffin's reputation has grown exponentially since getting fired, going on tv a lot, and doing every single NBA podcast at least twice. I'm not at all saying he's bad at his job, I just think his past work is hard to judge. His hand was clearly forced on a lot of things in Cleveland (Tristan Thompson being the obvious example), but there's a lot of bad contracts on this page, and they gave away some guys who ended up being useful elsewhere.

I know that games are played one at a time and that if the Warriors win tonight there will be an awful lot of pressure on the Raptors, but I simply cannot imagine this hobbled version of Golden State winning two more in a row. Am I missing something?

I know that games are played one at a time and that if the Warriors win tonight there will be an awful lot of pressure on the Raptors, but I simply cannot imagine this hobbled version of Golden State winning two more in a row. Am I missing something?

You are not. I think Toronto are big favorites. But, Curry and Klay are deadly high efficiency, high volume shooters. Golden State still has some good individual defenders in Klay, Draymond, and Iggy. Golden State are still dangerous, like a cornered animal.

I've completely forgotten Klay was hurt and missed 1+ games this series. It's definitely not out of the realms of possibilities that GS pulls this out - they can easily out 3PT the Raps, and like people here have been saying Kawhi looks far from 100% right now. I think the Raps *should* win and they are better than a KD-less GS, and I think the Raps *will* win, but I'm less sure of that than before the last game even now knowing KD is done.

I mean GS are 2.5 point favorites tonight, which means that on a neutral court this version is rated slightly worse than the Raptors -- they'd probably be 3.5 point underdogs in a potential Game 7. If you average that out to two coin flips, it's still only 25% for them to take the series.

Things that are 25% happen all the time of course -- Khris Davis getting a hit, an Andre Iguodala 3 going in, Daryl Morey writing and then publishing a memo about refereeing to the league after losing a series to the Warriors.

So I can imagine it -- Game 6 Klay shows up and puts up 41 points on 11/18 from 3 while shooting circus shots from all over the floor tonight (as he did in Game 6 against OKC on the road in 2016) and then the Warriors eke Game 7 out while getting the whistle and a couple cold shooting nights from Lowry, Green, Siakam and Gasol.

But it's still an uphill fight. Down 3-2 you just don't have any outs left.

What sticks out to me is that of the 10 players to have taken at least 38 shots, only three are Warriors. Not having a healthy KD or even Boogie is really stretching them to find players to even get shots up. Even if you push Curry and Klay to 60% usage between them, that's still 30-40 shots that other players are going to end up getting up.

I don't want to put too much mock draft stuff in the thread today, but I am keeping a list. I think we need 2 more people and we'll have 47 of the first 48 picks covered. Does anyone particularly want New Orleans? And does anyone particularly want Boston and their 3 first-rounders?

Minnesota has a ton of people who care about hockey as well. Not me mind you, but many people.

I grew up with zero interest in hockey. I always attributed it to being a tall kid of cheap parents- didn't want to pay for skates or ice time, so they got me into basketball. It might also have to do with the Northstars going south right when I developed consciousness of sports. Either way, I've always felt that NBA and NHL fans were somewhat in tension in MN and not many people were passionate about both. Are there cities were both are really popular with the same people? Boston comes to mind. Maybe DC, NY, Tor right now, Chicago?

Don't worry, I'm on it. As GM of the Wizards in the BBTF mock draft, I am making it known that I am open to any and all trade ideas, even potentially trading our coveted All-Star guard, John Wall.

It would be fun if this was the venue where the vaunted Wiggins-for-Wall anti-challenge trade finally happened. I don't think I can even do that with Wall destined to live out his contract from a rehab facility.

Their overall ecosystem is pretty dysfunctional, so it's really hard to evaluate any individual piece. Alex Len actually looked like he might be an NBA player in Atlanta.

Yeah, they're at the point where it seems weird to give their draft picks a good grade because you kind of can't imagine a Phoenix draft pick meeting expectations. Kind of like OKC bringing in free agents who always seem to lose half their skills when playing with Russell Westbrook.

If it pleases the thread I could volunteer for NOP to draft Zion and run the Anthony Davis sweepstakes for NOP. The Warriors aren't going to be involved in any transaction around him or potentially Jrue Holiday or the max cap space involved.

Also happy to take Memphis and draft Ja Morant and auction off Mike Conley and whatever other pieces I can.

So I take it the only way that GS wins another game in this series is for both Steph and Klay to go nuclear at the same time? Either that or Kawhi spots ZaZa in the crowd and starts having nervous flashbacks...

Sardonic, I've got an amazing PowerPoint presentation ready to show you on the benefits of trading AD to the Lakers. It's pretty amazing. The Laker girls will be there, and I have sweet merch signed by James Worthy all ready for you.

So I take it the only way that GS wins another game in this series is for both Steph and Klay to go nuclear at the same time? Either that or Kawhi spots ZaZa in the crowd and starts having nervous flashbacks...

So I take it the only way that GS wins another game in this series is for both Steph and Klay to go nuclear at the same time? Either that or Kawhi spots ZaZa in the crowd and starts having nervous flashbacks...

I'll say Toronto wins 110-102. Curry scores 35+. Klay isn't as sharp and his bad hamstring shows more. Kawhi finishes with 34 points and 12 rebounds, including 12-14 from the line. Siakam and Lowry both make big plays in the final 4 minutes to seal it. Powell makes two threes off the bench.

I see Klay exploding, Curry not having a huge box score game (say 23/7/7) but playing well to limit Warriors turnovers and help them win fast break points. Draymond helps to limit the Raps role players, Boogie, Bogut and Looney help the Warriors win the boards. The Raptors finally regress and shoot 70% from the FT line. Kawhi has an inefficient 30 and the Warriors sweat out a 112-107 win.

I feel a game 7 in my bones but I am not brave enough to predict a score for tonight. I will say that Steph and Klay combine for 55+ and two of Iggy, Boogie, or Draymond steps up and score in double figures to help out

mAybe I was wrong about Lowry. he has now had two terrific quarters. How much more can he have in him tonight? The fact that he, Ibaka, and Siakam all had great halves AND the Warriors have 10 turnovers AND they are still only behind by 3 feels like they are in a decent position